The American Cancer Society was welcomed as guests of the Los Angeles Rams during the team’s contest with the Green Bay Packers Oct. 28, part of the National Football League’s Crucial Catch program. Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer and executive vice president of football operations, spoke at Banc of California Stadium to a small gathering of the charitable organization’s CEOs Against Cancer Southern California Chapter. The group then migrated over to the Los Angeles Coliseum to watch the Rams defeat the Packers 29-27 in a nail-biter. Not all good news from the meetup, however: Despite being centered in one of the largest commercial markets in the United States, the American Cancer Society only counts 22 members in its SoCal CEO chapter. Seems to me the community of business here can do better … More bad news came later that Sunday with the Los Angeles Dodgers dropping a deciding Game 5 of the World Series to the Boston Red Sox. Some major business decisions lie ahead in the off-season for the Dodgers club, namely whether pitching ace Clayton Kershaw will be back with the team in 2019. Kershaw has two years and a guaranteed $65 million left on his contract but could opt out and become a free agent. Dodgers fans – and possibly sponsors – are watching the situation closely … On the eve of the midterm elections, California is, for once, a player in the national political landscape, and a polarized electorate has led to record campaign spending – with some sources estimating more than $6.7 billion will be spent on political ads in 2018. While the general public is most likely weary of the partisan commercial deluge – I know I am! – it’s great news for broadcasters, who are trumpeting the midterms as a bottom-line booster in recent earnings calls … Snap Inc. founder and Chief Executive Evan Spiegel has caught some flak for a recent hiring snafu. It seems Kristen O’Hara, a member of the camera app-maker’s business solutions team, was tapped to be the company’s chief business officer only to have the job offer rescinded two days later by Spiegel, who chose for the position Amazon.com Inc. ad sales chief Jerami Gorman instead. Unsurprisingly, O’Hara left Snap after the switcharoo, joining legions of investors who have soured on the company since its initial public offering in March 2017 – Snap’s stock is down around 75 percent since then … This is my first Page 3 columns as interim editor of the Business Journal, and I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you all to reach out with any feedback about our publication. We aim to be the pulse of the business community here in Los Angeles and you, our readers, are the lifeblood upon which we thrive. Shoot me an email at [email protected] or call at (323) 566-8321. If you’re Twitter-inclined, follow me at @henry_meier.